The role of community pharmacists in updating the vaccination schedule: a descriptive analysis of vaccination data in the greater Paris Region, 2022-2024
This descriptive analysis of 2022–2024 vaccination data in the greater Paris Region demonstrates that community pharmacists significantly expanded their role in administering and prescribing vaccines, particularly for influenza and newly recommended immunizations like HPV and pertussis, thereby highlighting their critical responsiveness to updated schedules and epidemic situations.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Vaccination stands as one of the most powerful tools in public health, capable of stopping diseases before they spread and protecting entire communities. For a vaccine to work effectively, however, people must actually receive it. When vaccination rates drop, diseases that were once rare can return with force, as seen with recent outbreaks of measles and whooping cough. To keep these rates high, health officials have spent years trying to make vaccines easier to get. In France, a significant shift occurred to bring vaccines closer to the people: community pharmacists, the professionals found in nearly every neighborhood, were granted new authority. Starting in 2019, they could give flu shots, and by August 2023, their role expanded to include prescribing and administering almost all vaccines for anyone aged eleven and older. This change was designed to turn local pharmacies into accessible hubs for preventive care, but it raised a practical question: how well did this new system work in the real world?
Researchers set out to answer this by looking at the actual records of vaccinations in the greater Paris region, known as Île-de-France, over a three-year period from 2022 to 2024. They examined data from the national health system, which tracks every vaccine dose given by healthcare professionals. Their goal was to see how many shots were being administered in pharmacies and, more importantly, how often pharmacists were taking the lead by prescribing the vaccines themselves, rather than just giving shots that a doctor had ordered. The data revealed a dramatic transformation in how vaccines were delivered. The total number of doses given in pharmacies more than doubled, rising from just under 900,000 in 2022 to over 1.8 million in 2024. This surge was driven largely by the flu vaccine, which has long been a staple in pharmacies, but the study found something more significant happening with other vaccines.
The most striking change involved vaccines that had recently received updated recommendations from health authorities. The number of human papillomavirus, or HPV, shots given in pharmacies jumped from a few hundred in 2022 to more than 51,000 in 2024. Similarly, the respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, which had never been given in pharmacies before 2024, saw over 5,000 doses administered that year. The researchers also noted a massive response to a whooping cough epidemic in 2024. During this outbreak, pharmacies administered nearly 200,000 additional doses of the vaccine compared to the previous year, showing that these local professionals could quickly adapt to urgent public health needs. In 2024 alone, pharmacists prescribed and administered nearly 28,000 doses of non-flu vaccines, with the majority being combination shots that protect against diphtheria, tetanus, polio, and whooping cough.
Despite this rapid growth in administration, the study highlighted a difference in how pharmacists were taking on their new roles. While they became very active in giving the shots, they were slower to take on the role of prescribing them. In 2024, only about 5% of the non-flu vaccines given in pharmacies were prescribed by the pharmacists themselves; the rest were still prescribed by doctors. This suggests that while pharmacists have quickly embraced the task of administering vaccines, the shift toward them acting as independent prescribers is still taking time to settle in. The researchers noted that factors like reimbursement rules and established habits of going to a doctor for a prescription likely play a role in this delay. For newer vaccines, such as those for respiratory syncytial virus and shingles, the numbers remained low, partly because reimbursement policies for these shots had not yet been fully finalized for the general public.
The findings paint a clear picture of a system in transition. Community pharmacists in the Paris region have proven they can handle a massive increase in vaccine delivery, acting as a flexible frontline defense during epidemics and for routine immunizations. They have successfully integrated new vaccines into their daily work, responding to changing health guidelines with speed. However, the full potential of their expanded role, where they would also decide which vaccines a patient needs, is still developing. The study concludes that while the capacity to administer vaccines is now firmly established, further support and training will be needed to help pharmacists become fully independent prescribers, ensuring that the promise of easier access to vaccines is realized for everyone.
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